Progress report for the 2018 crop:
After talking to my cooperative and the county extension agent, they recommended that I did not grow tobacco on my commercial farming property, as I was claiming it as a business, and that could mean trouble. Probably not, but thinking about how much trouble it "could" be, then I just thought that to make things easier... I'd keep it in the garden at the house. If you follow me on instagram, you're probably familiar with my Cosmic Garden, with heirloom varieties, fruit orchard, and vineyards. My house is about five miles or so from the farm, so it would be easier to keep the leaves hand checked for hornworms without having to use commercial sprays and such.
So, I've built a 32' x 6' raised bed next to the house for Virginias, repurposed a 12' x 4' raised bed (which was used last year for Virginias) for Japan8 oriental tobacco, and an 18' x 6' bed for semois (thanks jitterbugdude). The beds are made of 6x2 treated lumber. The lumber has to be replaced every four years, and some raised bed purist always bawk that I should use cedar. But, I find that cedar breaks down on the ground just about as fast as treated pine. And, the cost is stupid expensive.
I also had the bright idea to borrow a dumptruck from the cooperative to bring in some of the dirt from the farm. ha ha, smart eh? The dumptruck couldn't get close to my house, because of power lines, so I had them dump it in my wonderful neighbor's yard... with his permission. I gave him two dumptruck loads in exchange for his generosity, as I am building a retaining wall in his backyard around his pool.
BUT... I had to hand shovel the dirt into wheel barrows and move a whole dumptruck load to fill the beds. My neighbor and I decided to rent a Bobcat to move his dirt, which we won't have to worry about for another few weeks. But, I wanted to get a move-on on the garden, since Spring is here.
The dirt is good volcanic field dirt, but now that I have the beds full, I am going to spread a thick layer of rabbit manure from my hutches and a layer of compost from my composter. I make about 100 pounds of compost a year from shredded junk mail, grass clippings, and chopped leaves from the orchard, plus kitchen and garden scraps. I HATE using a tiller, but I will only ever have to use it once on the beds, and I hate it second to hand shovelling dirt and moving a wheel barrow. It took over 50 wheel barrow loads. You'll see the look of joy on my face in the picture below.
My calculations, I should be able to get a tad over 20lbs of Virginias, maybe 5lbs of semois (having never grown it before I can't be precise), and no telling how the Japan8 will pan out. I also have a few of different varieties of cigar leaf varieties ready to be placed just strown about the garden. Those are more of an experiment. Maybe next year I will devote more space to them.
Yeh, after sharing some of my previous year's crop with Skip at The Briary, his wheels started spinning. He was asking me to sell him some tobacco to sell as The Briary's blends. But, when I told him how much manufacturing and licensing would be, he passed. It did make me feel good that he thought it good enough to put his branding on it, but I am not someone who wants to play around with Big Brother. Maybe, one day in the future, if Big Brother decides that it's ok, but for now, this is just a hobby for me. I just enjoy learning about where things come from. I also grow our own apples, peaches, apricots, muscadines, blueberries, and all of our vegetables. I don't drink, but my wife enjoys the muscadine wine that I make for her, and I enjoy having gallons of juices, jams, and jellies on hand. We're not nature freaks at all. Just like to keep busy in the yard, and the whole family has something to do together. I also enjoy sharing with friends, and it is rewarding enough when a friend enjoys the fruits or bowls of my labor. Dirt, sweat, and labor to dollar, I don't think we save any money, when you think about the work. But, the family bonding and just the fruits of our labors is solid gold.
Anyways, the next post will be about planting time, and we are just a little while away from no more 50F nights. I hope you are enjoying my work, vicariously from your computer. :
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